Robotic devices, such as those having robotic end effectors, are often used in hazardous, unstructured environments where a human operator should not or cannot be present, but where it is desirable to have a human operator to properly operate the robot. With an intuitive mastering device, the human operator can be more productive. Robotic master control devices exist in many different form factors. Conventional master control devices providing degrees of freedom at the hand, referred to herein as robotic master hands, are generally based on wearable glove devices or external mechanisms attached to the back of the hand. In order to accommodate the movement of the human operator's hand, many prior robotic master hands employ complicated mechanisms or structurally elaborate components to accomplish their task resulting in cumbersome devices that are bulky, expensive, and non-robust. Furthermore, many of such devices do not incorporate force reflection functionality due to its difficulty and complexity. Other industries or areas of interest, namely video games and virtual environments, have not, until recently, had the complexity where such physics-based quantities could realistically be determined in real-time. As a result, it is believed that there currently are no force reflective human/virtual environment interfaces and control devices that employ force reflection that are sufficiently effective and economical, particularly economical enough to be used with video games.
Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended.